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Author Topic: Need help....RM Photographer looking at Micro  (Read 7873 times)

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« on: April 06, 2013, 14:21 »
0
I've been a RM photographer since the 80's with TIB. I stopped submitting to them when I disagreed with the direction they were taking under the Getty brand. A few years ago I was dropped by them because I did not sign the new contract. By that time I only had 50 images with them. I have been admitted back to Getty under the Photographer's Choice brand which charges $50/image to be in! I have not submitted any images even though I would get 10 free placement images.

I spent last year submitting to another much smaller image exclusive RM agency with limited return on investment with 2300 accepted images. I'm averaging around $100/month profit from them.

I have recently signed up with Alamy, Inmagine and Agefotostock. I only have 270 images on Alamy, 200 on Inmagine and 138 on Agefotostock.

I have many other images that no agency has.

A trip I did last year can be seen on my site plus a bunch of other images that are and are not with any agency. On the following link, non of the images are with any agency yet.

Do you guys think I should upload these images to the Macro sites above or would you think I would be more successful going the microstock route?

http://goo.gl/NbmpA

thanks,

Don
« Last Edit: April 06, 2013, 14:29 by DonLand »


« Reply #1 on: April 06, 2013, 14:46 »
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Very impressive images Don!

Personally I've been doing microstock for over 8 years although have never tried RM or Macro. I've always thought that Alamy for example was over-rated. The last financials I saw published (for 2011), if I remember correctly, had them generating $22M total revenue from a collection of 35M images. That's less than 63c per image/year.

In contrast Shutterstock is generating $160M revenue from 25M images. Ok, SS pays a smaller percentage royalty than Alamy, but a portfolio with SS will earn far more for the contributor than at Alamy.

Some of your images would do extremely well at the micros. They're vibrant, clean and jump out of the page at thumbnail size __ perfect. I'd suggest you give the micros a tryout, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Tror

« Reply #2 on: April 06, 2013, 14:46 »
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IMHO you have nothing to lose, looking at your numbers. Better make a late switch then never. You are a very good Photographer and I think after some adjustments to the market you will be able to make a decent and stable income.

The Microstock market is not as evil as many from the RM side may think and the adjustments you will have to make are nothing really serious (change a bit the style to what sells in Micro, use other lights and concepts...and...ready!).

Give it a try!

« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2013, 14:48 »
+1
Try for Stocksy ?

« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2013, 14:56 »
-1
Try for Stocksy ?

That's exactly what I thought. IMHO, those images will not sell enough times on the micros to give you a worthwhile income. May as well put them elsewhere and give them some time, I believe you will earn more that way.

« Reply #5 on: April 06, 2013, 15:11 »
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Thank you all for the kind words and suggestions. Decisions, decisions! iStockphoto exclusive, many microstock sites, or Stocksy. Sounds like everyone is on the same page as far as moving to Micro, but then again this is a Micro forum.

Like I said in my first post I have 2300 images on a RM site. If anyone would be so kind to check it out and let me know where you think the best place for them would be. I'd like to be a bit stealthy here so the url is  http://goo.gl/dzcrC   if you search for pg_4254 you'll see all of my images there.

thanks again!

Don

« Reply #6 on: April 06, 2013, 15:15 »
0
Thank you all for the kind words and suggestions. Decisions, decisions! iStockphoto exclusive, many microstock sites, or Stocksy. Sounds like everyone is on the same page as far as moving to Micro, but then again this is a Micro forum.

Like I said in my first post I have 2300 images on a RM site. If anyone would be so kind to check it out and let me know where you think the best place for them would be. I'd like to be a bit stealthy here so the url is  http://goo.gl/dzcrC   if you search for pg_4254 you'll see all of my images there.

thanks again!

Don


Lots of great stuff there.  Is that the set you are only making $100/month from???  If so you could be doing a LOT better.  They should easily make over $1.00 per image per month as non-exclusive microstock.

« Reply #7 on: April 06, 2013, 15:18 »
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Yes that is correct. $100/month  :'(
« Last Edit: April 06, 2013, 15:21 by DonLand »

steheap

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« Reply #8 on: April 06, 2013, 15:33 »
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$100 a month!!!

I agree - a great set of images. I can't say about Stocksy (not had a response to my request to join yet), but I take a lot of travel and landscape images and I'm very open about how much I earn from the portfolio of 5000 images on the various stock sites on my blog. I submit to about 20, including Alamy, and have built the earnings up to $2000 a month from my portfolio. I am sure you could do well with yours!

Steve

Edit: And of course you could join our growing group of networked artist sites using the Symbiostock theme on Wordpress. My site is in the signature page below and there are tons of posts about it in the forum!

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #9 on: April 06, 2013, 15:37 »
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Thank you all for the kind words and suggestions. Decisions, decisions! iStockphoto exclusive, many microstock sites, or Stocksy.
You can't become an official iStock exclusive contributor until you have 250 sales, so you have time to test the waters with all the sites before taking or rejecting that particular option.
I don't think the low-paying micro model is right for your particular images. They don't have the mass market potential to make the low payment worthwhile. But again, you can always test and see what works for you. Stocksy might work for you, but it's image exclusive and hasn't had time to prove itself yet.

mlwinphoto

« Reply #10 on: April 06, 2013, 15:46 »
+1
Yes that is correct. $100/month  :'(

You said you were making $100/month profit....what is your gross vs. your expenses?  Perhaps your expenses are too high as well?

I gave up on RM entirely about 1 1/2 yrs ago.  I was with Index for about 15 years and used to do well there but it was on the decline about the time Photolibrary bought them out.  That decline continued through PL's purchase by Getty.  I stayed with Getty House for about a year and got out once I realized how restrictive their policies were.

I became exclusive with iStock last July and was doing progressively better through November.  Since that time I'm managing to do progressively worse month to month in spite of continuing to build my portfolio, which admittedly is rather small at this point.

If you join iStock with the intention of becoming exclusive you need to wait until you hit 250 DL's before you can apply for exclusivity.  If you decide to give micro a try I would upload to other micro sites in addition to iStock for that period of time in which you cannot be exclusive at iStock.  That will give you a chance to test the waters, so to speak. 

You have some images in RM, might as well keep them there until you see how micro works out for you.  You have a nice portfolio but nature doesn't sell as well as lifestyle and business, for example. 

Are you doing any self-marketing?  Calendar companies, for example.  If not, give it a try as you should do well in that market, although it is very competitive.

I guess what I'm trying to say in my rambling is give micro a try but keep your options open with RM in the meantime.

« Reply #11 on: April 06, 2013, 15:47 »
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Just to be clear, I was talking about the images on your own site, as mentioned in the OP

http://www.landwehrle.com/sites/DonLandwehrlePhotography/West/index.html


« Reply #12 on: April 06, 2013, 15:51 »
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Yes, T-Light, understood. Tnx.

Miwin, yes, that is the problem right not, my profit/loss is backwards! I am earning $100/month from SuperStock, not making $100 profit on the business! I need to change this back the other way before I need to get a "real" job after 35 years of being an independent photographer!
« Last Edit: April 06, 2013, 15:56 by DonLand »

« Reply #13 on: April 06, 2013, 15:57 »
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Lots of great stuff there.  Is that the set you are only making $100/month from???  If so you could be doing a LOT better.  They should easily make over $1.00 per image per month as non-exclusive microstock.

I'd agree with Leaf. I would consider $1 per image/month to be a conservative estimate for those images just from the 'Big Four' microstock agencies.

As for Stocksy it's still too new to know if it will be a success and anyway they may only accept a small proportion of your portfolio.

« Reply #14 on: April 06, 2013, 16:00 »
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I also have shot some skiing as is here. Again these are not with any agency yet. Just trying to figure out where to put them.

http://www.landwehrle.com/sites/DonLandwehrlePhotography/Sports/index.html

My entry to my main website is http://www.landwehrle.com

« Reply #15 on: April 06, 2013, 16:11 »
+1
I don't see why you shouldn't stay in RM with these images you have on your site. They just don't seem to be very sharp on your site but I assume the full resolution is spot on.

With Alamy you have to give it a year to be fully processed into the Alamy rank system with newly submitted content and their (sometimes) erratic review policy.

Once you hit 5,000 images with Alamy after a year or two I could see $2k coming in per month at least. That's a pretty conservative guess though.

Alamy has a ton of distributors worldwide so your stuff will be shown and sold all over the globe.

My 2 cents.

« Reply #16 on: April 06, 2013, 16:21 »
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Thanks, click_click

The images on my site are lo-res, so soft appearing when on a large monitor.

At $2k/month from Alamy with 5k images it sounds like I'd be better off with Micro as the consensus seems to run $1 to $3/image/month.


« Reply #17 on: April 06, 2013, 16:36 »
+1
Thanks, click_click

The images on my site are lo-res, so soft appearing when on a large monitor.

At $2k/month from Alamy with 5k images it sounds like I'd be better off with Micro as the consensus seems to run $1 to $3/image/month.

Try Fine Art America ..... those pictures are exactly what they sell most.... and they sell very  good.

« Reply #18 on: April 06, 2013, 17:21 »
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Try Fine Art America ..... those pictures are exactly what they sell most.... and they sell very  good.


Thanks, saw that as well as http://www.redbubble.com

If I go this route these would be in addition to any stock photo site(s) that I would go with.

PaulieWalnuts

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« Reply #19 on: April 06, 2013, 17:52 »
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Don - I'd agree with some of the other comments here. You have some nice work and talent so getting $1 per image per month would seem reasonable. If all of your images are the quality of the ones you've shown a couple thousand images should be producing a couple thousand dollars a month, not a couple hundred.

I'm a Getty house contributor and also Istock exclusive. The problem I've found with macro is only my totally unique images or highly conceptual images sell. And producing unique stuff is becoming pretty difficult or costly.

Of all of the art websites only Fineartamerica has worthwhile for me.

Good luck!

« Reply #20 on: April 06, 2013, 17:57 »
0
Thanks PW,

I had to re-read your post a couple of times... I kept getting caught up on your comment

"The problem I've found with macro is only my totally unique images or highly conceptual images sell."

My bad  :) , I kept reading it as MICRO, not macro.  Makes sense once I correctly read what you wrote!

So your vote is go exclusive with iStock? Another person suggested that also.

« Reply #21 on: April 06, 2013, 18:32 »
+3
So your vote is go exclusive with iStock? Another person suggested that also.

No. That would be extremely stupid.

« Reply #22 on: April 06, 2013, 18:35 »
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Gost... LOL, I did not say that and neither did you. It just appeared that another contributor is iStock exclusive and I made an assumption that he would vote for iStock exclusivity. My bad on the assumption.

Oh, and thanks for clarifying that about how you feel. I am curious about how everyone feels going exclusive iStock vs. going a bunch of different Micros.
« Last Edit: April 06, 2013, 18:39 by DonLand »

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #23 on: April 06, 2013, 18:38 »
0
Gost... LOL, I did not say that and neither did you. It just appeared that another contributor is iStock exclusive and I made an assumption that he would vote for iStock exclusivity. My bad on the assumption.
No indeed.
But as you can't go exclusive until you have 250 sales, it's moot at this stage anyway.

« Reply #24 on: April 06, 2013, 18:43 »
0
True, good point.

So then is it worthwhile to sign with iStock given the abysmal contributor percentage?


 

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